50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

misskool

Apologies for the flurry of postings, but I am about to make christmas cake the first time ever and need as much help as i can get.

can someone please give me a simple foolproof recipe that doesn't require 57 million ingredients and teach me how to ice it?

munchki

Morning everyone
We have a friend and her little girl coming for dinner tonight. So after having decided that I really did need to sort the freezer out, there were a few things in there that really did need to be tossed *shame I know* but all neat and organised again!! Took out some chicken legs and thighs and bunged them into the slow cooker. Added a tin or two of chopped tomatoes, some chopped red peppers and onions *from the freezer* some chopped up celery and some pepper, chilli flakes and ground cumin. This will cook all day and make a lovely sauce once the chicken comes out that can be thickened a bit and used with Jacket potatoes, rice or even mash. Cant decide what I am going to make with it yet. Super easy and really yummy and does not cost much.

As for okra, I detest it boiled or in stir frys etc. It is however great if you slice it up, dip in a bit of milk/water or egg and dredge in a bit of seasoned flour and fry it off. Really very nice that way and the only way I will eat it.

Hope everyone is doing well, suppose I should go back and do a bit of work this morning. Will try and pop in again later.

Huge hugs to everyone!

Kath xx

cw18

When it comes to icing there are two ways.

One is the paste type icing (like the supermarkets use on Birthday cakes, and which I can only eat in small doses). You can buy this as a sheet (or used to be able to) that you just drape over the cake and trim to fit.

The other is Royal Icing. I confess that the last few times I've done this I've used special packet mixes, but I have made from scratch before (which is how my Mum does it). This can be very forgiving, 'cos while some people will do everything they can to get it flat and smooth (not easy), you can also apply it with a slap-dash technique and then use a knife point to form 'peaks' to represent snow drifts. Guess which one I go for :rolleyes2 I refused to have a wedding cake with anything but Royal Icing, but the "professionals" charged about three times as much for this as using roll-out Fortunately one of my Aunts-by-marriage (my Mum's SIL) was a dab hand at cake making and decorating, and had the same views as me on this. So I sent her a swatch of the fabric I was using to make the bridesmaids dresses, and she made it (and brought it up from London with her) complete with little flowers that matched perfectly :T

But for best results any which way you go (especially the smooth finish Royal Icing) you should have applied marzipan at least a few days before -- and give that time to dry first so the oil from it doesn't seep through the icing.

Kentishmaid_2

misskool wrote: »

Apologies for the flurry of postings, but I am about to make christmas cake the first time ever and need as much help as i can get.

can someone please give me a simple foolproof recipe that doesn't require 57 million ingredients and teach me how to ice it?

Thanks for the okra recipe, looks like a Saturday thing.


As for Christmas cakes I use Delia - but quantities depend on the size of your tin. If you're almond pasting and icing it a round tin is easier but if you're decorating it with nuts and crystallized fruit with ribbon on sides square is best. That's my fav as it's quick and done in one process. Please don't ask how many cakes the ribbon has been on!!

In_Search_Of_Me

evening me lovelies! Re the cake decorating I would go with hm royal icing and go for the peaked snow look - getting it perfect takes lots of layers and even more practice - not to mention a sqirly table thing that turns and a special spatula thing while the peaks just use a pallett knife and you can add extra oooo by putting silver balls in some of the peaks, using ribbon and cutting out (or buying!) holly leaves...simple yet effective! delia also has some that dont need icing if that helps...
Re the ingredients they aint cheap...I'm not doing one this year!
Re the crafting I enjoy it and find it relaxing but its not cheap!
Hello mrs m...good to see you back! I've heard from weezl and shes ok but been a busy grow bag bunny and I suspect snuggled up as I type...this growing a baby lark is exhausting!
welcome mr m...look forward to hearing if youre wed to mrs m but welcome either way!

miggy

cw18 wrote: »

...Royal Icing. I confess that the last few times I've done this I've used special packet mixes, but I have made from scratch before (which is how my Mum does it). This can be very forgiving, 'cos while some people will do everything they can to get it flat and smooth (not easy), you can also apply it with a slap-dash technique and then use a knife point to form 'peaks' to represent snow drifts.

But for best results any which way you go (especially the smooth finish Royal Icing) you should have applied marzipan at least a few days before -- and give that time to dry first so the oil from it doesn't seep through the icing.

I will second that about Royal Icing - also if you ice it days or weeks in advence it goes harder which in turn helps the cake not to dry out. MY MIL makes it using lemon juice which is absolutely THE BEST. Try it on a few mince pies first if in doubt .

The order I was shown for icing a Christmas cake is as follows:
Make cake (always a good start )
Do this as far in advance of Christmas as possible - if your recipe uses booze then you could make it at any point in the year, but 'feed' the cake by making skewer holes and dripping more of the alcohol in, every month or so - not very MS but very nice! Wrap it well in between feedings so it doesn't spoil, and keep it somewhere cool - doesn't need to be frozen as the alcohol & sugar help it keep, and it will mature this way.
A month or so before Christmas, warm and seive some apricot jam and paint it all over the cake then put on marzipan (there are quantities & instructions on marzipan packs - usually a couple of ordinary-sized packs is about right).
Let the marzipan dry for about a week so it doesn't stain the icing.
Lastly - make Royal icing & be very creative when applying it - it will taste great whatever it looks like!

I can post my cake recipe if you like but it's all in pound & ounces.

My Mum taught me that when cooking a rich fruit cake such as Christmas cake, I should reserve about a cup of the mixture at the stage before putting fruit in, then after mixing the fruit in, line the tin with buttered greaseproof paper, put in the cake mix and put the no-fruit mix on top. That way there aren't any fruits sticking out to get burnt. Seems to work that way and is easier than tryiing to push fruit under the surface!

When it is in the tin and you have pre-heated the oven, wrap the sides & base of the tin in 2 layers of brown paper to make sure the outsides of the cake don't spoil. That really does work.

Also for most of the cooking time put a piece of brown paper lightly over the top to stop it drying too much. It won't catch fire or anything, but you can remove it towards the end of cooking if you like.

I know all that sounds a bit much, and you can make a cake without it all, but those are things I've found that work.

Oh, and if you have a fan oven, lower the temperature by 10 or 20 degrees and be sure to cover the cake with brown paper because the fan seems to dry the cake too much.

jtb2412

Thank you for that miggy - making 5 this year for various family members and need all the help I can get ! lol

Oh, and also be careful if you have a gas oven not to put the paper too far back, otherwise it will catch light ! :eek: :rotfl: :rolleyes:

I've roughly costed the xmas cakes i've made (9" ones) and they've come out to around £15 - including all boxes, boards and decorations (I got a good deal on the marzipan and icing and other ingredients !) Not looked at how much the supermarkets are charging for a cake (might go and have a looksie in a minute !)

Just ordered my Xmas turkey today so very organised here (which is a first !) You can bet i'll be making a lot more from the leftovers this year than I've ever done (thanks to this thread !) It almost makes me cry when I think of what we've thrown away (turkey leftover wise) in previous years. This year will be different though - maybe we could start posting some recipes we could make with what is left of the turkey/goose/whatever peeps are having !?

Hope everyone is ok ? xx

In_Search_Of_Me

I suspect jtb that you can buy them cheaper as they make them in bulk but theyre nowhere near as nice!
f you did smaller cakes they would be alot cheaper on ingredients though but then getting boxes harder...swings n roundabouts eh!

weezl74

hello there!

Been reading to catch up with you all, what an inspiring bunch! :T:T:T:T

thought I'd update you on a frugal christmas idea::D

Fudge

found a recipe on here, and made 2 tinkered with flavours- chocolate and pecan, and white chocolate and cherry. With each little gift bag having 10 pieces of very rich fudge, we made 30 gifts for approx a tenner! :money::money::money:

I chose the recipe, cos it said fool proof, and I've had fudge-making issues in the past, where a boiling time difference of 2 mins can make the difference between runny caramel and rock hard toffee!

I report this recipe to have been fool-proof indeed!

I'll pop back with the linky...

Love

Weezl (tired in my bones), Acetate Monkey (tired of all the decorating) and Fergus (not at all tired and practising more kicks a day than David Beckham!) xxx

shaz_mum_of__2

Great to see you weezl

our mr t is selling 1kg tins of condensed milk for about £2 i think .............less than the cost of buying smaller ones

can't wait for the linky or recipe specially the pecan one ......yummy

Where did you get the bags from to put it in?

Pleased fergus is kicking .......................i loved that first month of kicking nice to know theres really something in there......................................noy so good at 9.5 months when they won't get their feet from out your ribs...LOL


any decisions on the nappy front yet?



Shaz